


Tell Me What You Think Before We're Ruined

by camichats



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Marauders Friendship, Marauders' Era, The Prank
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-24
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-05-13 04:22:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14741915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camichats/pseuds/camichats
Summary: Sirius calls it a prank. Remus calls it a nightmare. The Marauders figure it out by talking to each other.





	Tell Me What You Think Before We're Ruined

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Fandom Trumps Hate 2018, for someone who wanted the Marauders dealing with The Prank, and the emotions there. Fortunately, they let me add in some James/Sirius :D

**Peter**  
The Marauders’ dormitory had never been so silent. It was fragile, fraught with tension. Peter just wanted everything to be normal again, but he understood why that wouldn’t happen immediately. He hadn’t exactly been removed from the situation, but he knew it couldn’t compare to the others’ experiences.

Sirius had told Snape, Remus tried to hurt him, and James stopped it from happening. Peter? Peter had been in the shack with Remus, unable to do anything in his little rat form, but squeak and run around Remus’s paws to try and distract him. It hadn’t done much, but Moony did consciously avoid stepping on him, so that was something. Maybe.

He didn’t know what to do. He fixed things sometimes. It felt like his role in the group, to fix the miscommunications and keep their friendship running smoothly. He hadn’t stopped this and he had no sodding clue how to start fixing it. He was barely involved and the last time he’d tried talking to Sirius, he’d let off at Peter, poking at each of Peter’s insecurities until he left. Peter knew he did it because he was feeling vulnerable and didn’t actually believe any of what he said, but it did deter him from trying again.

The dorm was silent, so Peter grabbed his bag and left. He’d do some classwork, maybe just head to the library to find that book on animagi that lived their entire lives in their animal form-- McGonagall had said it was there somewhere.

**Remus**

It had been one of the worst full moons to date. The first one he ever experienced had been worse. He’d also been five at the time, so it didn’t quite count, did it? And it had been the first time he’d felt that pain, the beginning of something terrible; of course he thought of it as being worse.

This… this ‘prank’ though? Merlin and Morgana Remus wanted to rip Sirius’s throat out when he tried to justify it that way to him.

“It was just a prank Remus, I don’t see why you’re getting your knickers in a twist.” Remus had thrown a roll of bandages at him, and it’s a good thing Sirius ducked because otherwise it would have hit him straight on and Remus hadn’t been pulling his strength.

It doesn’t count as a prank if someone nearly dies. If someone _would_ have died if James hadn’t been an idiotic arse and gone in to save him and by some miracle succeeded. He’d nearly killed James. And… that’s what was eating Remus up more than anything. He knew that he should feel eight kinds of guilty and terrified if it had only been Snape involved, but- but he _didn’t_.

Oh he cared, but not enough, not at the level he should. He felt a little bad about the Snape thing, but only as far as that he was a person and Remus didn’t want to be responsible for the death of a single one. He should feel worse about nearly killing a classmate, about almost becoming a murderer.

He didn’t.

And that was terrifying.

**James and Sirius**

“Sirius, for the love of Merlin, just apologise.”

Sirius had his arms crossed over his chest, looking the very picture of stubborn. “No. Technically, I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Sirius,” James groaned.

“I said _technically_. So I egged the git on a bit, that’s not a crime. I didn’t convince him Moony’s a werewolf or summat.”

“You told him how to get in the Whomping Willow!”

“He would have figured it out eventually. Besides, how big of a dumb arse do you have to be to think someone’s a bloodthirsty werewolf and still decide to go in a small passage leading to them on the full moon? Snivellus wasn’t anywhere close to dying, but if he was, it would’ve been his own damn fault.”

James growled and threw up his hands. They were going in circles, which made it all the more surprising to Sirius when James defended him to Remus and Peter. “It’s not Sirius’s fault that Snape’s a bloody dumbarse, the likes of which we have never seen! How in the bloody buggering hell was Sirius supposed to know he would haul off and do that?”

“It wouldn’t have been a problem if he didn’t tell the snake anything in the first place,” Peter argued.

“Nothing he didn’t already know,” James said, rolling his eyes. It made Sirius wonder why James had argued with him earlier if he thought the same thing. Or maybe… maybe he wasn’t thinking the same thing? James was always in Sirius’s corner, Sirius knew that. He just- just hadn’t thought it would apply to situations where James thought he was wrong.

After that argument, Peter went back to the Hospital Wing to keep Remus company. It left James and Sirius alone in the dormitory again, sitting side by side on James’s bed. Sirius had begun thinking of it as _their_ bed recently because he’d been sleeping in it for the whole year starting at the end of September, but with everything going on right now, he wasn’t sure if that would still be true.

“What are you thinking?” Sirius asked. Not challenging, not hostile, only curious.

James mussed his hair with a sigh. “I dunno,” he said, and it sounded like a lie. Looking at his face though, it seemed he was confused.

“Hey,” Sirius said, knocking their knees together even though he wanted to hold James’s hand-- but refrained for fear of rejection. “It’s me. Talk it out.”

James stared at Sirius for a long moment, organising his thoughts. “What you did,” he started slowly, “wasn’t that bad. We’ve done far worse. I mean, really, jabbing at Sni- Snape to make him angry? Telling him something that’ll get his dumb arse in trouble? We do that all the time. You couldn’t know that he’d listen this time when he hasn’t fallen for it since second year. I understand why you’re not sorry. We haven’t apologised for any of the other shite we’ve pulled, and no one’s expected us to. If I were you, I wouldn’t apologise either.”

“Then why did you tell me I should?”

James shrugged helplessly. “I _don’t know_. It’s why I’m so confused. This whole thing is just,” he gestured aimlessly, “a steaming pile of hippogriff dung.”

Sirius paused, then- “Do you want me to move back to my bed?”

“What?” James said immediately, shocked. “No. Don’t you dare.” He gave Sirius a hard shove so he fell back on the bed, then climbed on top of him, pinning him down. “You can’t leave. When you don’t have lethally pointy elbows, you make the best bed mate ever. If you leave I won’t be able to sleep, and neither will you.”

Sirius chuckled. “Okay, okay, I give.”

“That’s right you do,” James said decisively, but didn’t move from his position.

**Remus and Peter**

“Hey Rem. I er, brought your book.” Peter set it on the bedside table.

“Thanks. How’s James?”

Peter froze, half on his way to sitting down. “James?”

Remus nodded, still staring at his hands on the duvet.

“Erm. He’s fine. Why?”

He shrugged uncomfortably.

“Remus.”

Remus fiddled with his hands for a minute before letting it all out on a rush. “He showed up out of nowhere and nearly got himself killed! What if I'd hurt him? That's not something I'd be able to come back from. Christ I wouldn't be able to look Sirius in the eye. I wouldn't even have a chance to avoid him because he'd bloody kill me for hurting James.”

“You think… that James should be mad at you?” Peter asked slowly, more than a hint of incredulousness in his voice.

“Not _should_. Just. Would be. Shit Pete I don't know. I'm scared, I'm sodding terrified at what almost happened.”

Peter finally sat down, staring at Remus with something akin to fascination in his eyes. “Okay.” Peter stilled Remus’s fidgeting hands. “Take a deep breath.”

Obediently, Remus did so.

“And calm down.”

Remus stared at him flatly.

“You’ve always told me that it’s pointless to waste my time and energy on what if’s, and you were right. So stop doing this to yourself. Yes, this _could_ have been really bad. Someone could have gotten hurt or even killed. But _it didn’t_ ,” Peter said firmly, when Remus started to get that pinched look. “None of that happened and thinking about it is just going to make you feel like shit.”

“I know,” he said quietly. “But it’s,” he swallowed, “it’s harder than I thought it would be and every time I try to stop it comes back. I’m so sodding tired but every time I try to go to sleep I keep thinking _what if_ and I keep turning it over in my head and I want to think of something, anything else, but I can’t.”

“I… brought you chocolate,” Peter tried, holding up the bag he’d packed.

Remus didn’t say anything, staring at the bag for so long Peter was beginning to think it was an awful idea and he would’ve been better off leaving him alone. “Okay that helps.”

Peter beamed, setting the bag of chocolate down on Remus’s lap. “I know you won’t believe it until you here James say it five times, but he really doesn’t blame you. I’m not even sure he blames Sirius,” he added in an undertone.

“I don’t blame Sirius,” Remus said, unwrapping a truffle.

“Really?”

Remus shrugged, popping the sweet in his mouth. “I did a’ firs’,” he slurred around the candy. “He w’s bein’ a di’ abou’ i’.”

“When has Sirius _not_ been a dick about something.”

Remus chewed on the truffle, able to talk normally again. “True. I don’t blame him, he’s just… annoying me. The last time he did something stupid on a full moon he kept his mouth shut and that worked. But this time it’s like he doesn’t even realise something happened. Hell, he took getting my History textbook wet more serious than this, and a drying spell fixed that so you couldn’t even tell anything had happened.”

“He’s always been pretty cavalier about Moony being dangerous.”

“Which is _stupid_.”

“I don’t want to be on his side right now, but he’s only been around him when he’s the same size. Padfoot’s bloody huge, bigger than Moony even. The only thing Moony has that he doesn’t is bigger teeth, but next to Prongs that doesn’t matter. As far as Sirius is concerned, Moony _isn’t_ a threat.”

“He’s still stupid,” Remus muttered petulantly, opening a bar of chocolate and taking a large bite.

**Sirius and Peter**

“Where’s James?” Peter asked.

Sirius was laying on their bed, flat on his back and staring at the ceiling. “Talking to Dumbledore.”

“Why?”

“About what happened.”

“...Oh.” Peter cleared his throat. “Are you worried?”

“Do you care?”

Peter sighed, already done with this argument, even though it had barely started and they weren’t technically fighting yet. “Of course I care. Just because you act like an insensitive berk when you bugger up doesn’t make us any less of friends.”

“Tell me how you really feel.”

“I know you’re joking, but fine, I will. I think that all Remus wants is for you to shut it and listen to him, but you’re so busy trying to convince yourself that you’re not like your family that you refuse to slow down and think about this. You’re not, by the way. Like them.”

“What would you know,” Sirius said, but there was no heat to it.

“I know that most people in the Black family would do something like this on purpose, and it wouldn’t fail.”

Sirius snorted. “I can’t believe that actually made me feel better.”

“I’m pretty surprised too.”

“Thanks Peter.”

“Any time.” Peter set about searching through his trunk. He was fairly certain there was a chocolate frog or two running around in here, and, smushed or not, he could use one right now.

“How’s Remus?”

“Healthy enough to talk to you himself.”

Sirius whined. “Why are you being difficult?”

“For making you be an adult and talk to your friend yourself? Can’t really put a reason to that.”

“I’m not an adult.”

“You are, and you have been for five months.”

“You’ve been keeping track?”

“Yep, for moments just like this. I’m glad it finally paid off. A ha!” he said victoriously, having found a crumpled but full chocolate frog wrapper. “But seriously, talk to Remus.” He ripped it open and shoved half of it in his mouth. “I’m not gonna be in the middle of this when it’s something you can only solve by talking to each other.”

“We can pass notes back and forth. How do you feel about being a messenger rat?”

“Not good, Sirius. Now, if you want, you can wait until Remus is out of the Hospital Wing, or you can wait for him to get out and waste time being awkward around each other and make things worse.”

“I hate you.”

“I’m sure.” Peter grabbed a blanket from his bed and threw it on Sirius, letting it land in a clump on his stomach. “You need to cuddle with something since James is gone,” he said as an explanation. “If you’re not going to go talk to Remus, that is.”

**Remus and James and Sirius**

“Hey,” James said with a shaky smile.

“Hello,” Remus said, careful to keep his tone neutral. It had been over a day since he’d last seen James, and he wanted to make sure this went well. For some reason, telling Peter that he couldn’t get over any of it had helped immensely. He’d woken up this morning, not feeling bogged down with depression. It still hit him, every once and a while, but it went away after a few minutes and a quick binge eating of the chocolate Peter brought him.

Unfortunately, James took his tone as a negative and winced. “Look, I’m sorry.”

Remus frowned at him, confused. “Why are _you_ sorry?”

“Because I- well, I knew that Sirius told Snape hours before I did anything. I only did something when we saw him on the grounds on the Map, and if I’d acted sooner we could have avoided all of this.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

James paused, taken aback. “Don’t… worry about it? Really? That’s all you have to say?”

Sounding weary, Remus sighed. “What do you want me to say?”

“I don’t know. More than that. I thought you’d be angry.”

“Why would I be angry at you?”

“The reasons I just said?” James ventured.

“Those would be good reasons if I was _looking_ for a reason to be angry, which I’m not.”

James just blinked at him. “You’re one of a kind Rem. You know that?”

“If you say so. You can stop feeling guilty now,” he added. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m not sure I could blame you even if you _did_ do something wrong.”

A tentative knock sounded on the Hospital Wing door, and Sirius stuck his head in, voice ashamed. “I don’t know why I just knocked, it seemed like a good idea at the time but now it just feels stupid.” He walked in, close enough that it was obvious he was there to see Remus, but far enough away to make it clear he was nervous.

Remus started chuckling, and it turned into full on laughter that had him clutching his stomach with tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. “You’re such an idiot,” he gasped out, but it was undeniably fond.

“Er, yeah. About that.” He scratched at the back of his head. “I’m really sorry Moons. I don’t--” he swallowed thickly and tried again. “I never would have told Snape anything if I’d known what was going to happen and I just- I feel like an arse because I didn’t want to apologise because I didn’t feel like I’d done anything wrong.” He took a deep breath and continued, in a less severe tone, “And you’re _you_ so clearly you deserved better, but c’mon everyone knows you’re the best person to grace these halls, and you’re _certainly_ the best human I’ve ever been friends with-- sorry James but you know it’s true, no one’s better than Rem.”

Remus shook his head, a faint smile still on his face. “Stop jabbering and give me a hug Padfoot.”

Sirius took half a step forward and then froze. “I don’t- are you sure?”

“Stupid or not you’re one of my best mates, now come here.”

Just as they were hugging, there was a loud click accompanied by a flash. Startled, they both looked at James, who was grinning behind a polaroid camera. He snatched the film as it came out the bottom and started shaking it. “Every moment is precious.”

“You’re a dork,” Remus told him.

“Did you seriously bring that with you to visit?”

“Every. Moment,” he repeated. He looked at the photo and beamed, turning it around so they could see it. Not one of the best pictures they’d ever taken, not by a long shot, but James still declared, “It’s going on the wall.”

“James,” Remus groaned.

**The Marauders**

Peter was looking at the wall, his head cocked as he studied the newest picture. “I take it the gang’s back together?” he asked while tying his tie.

“Yep,” James said. “Just like the good old days.”

Remus snorted. “We had a fight that lasted for all of two maybe three days. That doesn’t even count as a break up.”

“Exactly,” Sirius said. “This isn’t just like the good old days, this is just like last week! If it were the good old days, we wouldn’t have slept in the same bed, which, in my opinion, makes the good old days much more shitty than the current days.”

“The point is, Wormtail, that the picture of Remus and Sirius is symbolic. Reuniting the band.”

“Again,” Remus chimed in, “we weren’t gone long enough to require being reunited.”

“Does this mean that if we get a better picture of all of us right now we can take this one down?” Peter asked.

“Yes,” Remus and Sirius said immediately, causing James to pout. Sirius pat him on the shoulder and whispered something in his ear that made him cheer up. Peter was very sure he didn’t want to know what had been said.

In various states of dress, they gathered together, pressing their faces cheek to cheek so they would all fit in the frame. As Sirius’s arms were the longest, he took the picture, with his other arm wrapped around James’s shoulders but his hand landing on Peter. Remus was in a similar position on the other side, and all of them were grinning so wide James didn’t even complain when they took the photo from the Hospital Wing down and replaced it with this one.

“I want everyone to know that I’m keeping this picture for posterity,” James announced.

Remus groaned, and Peter grumbled about it. Sirius smiled, leaning in to kiss James’s cheek and say, “Just like the good old days of last week.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr [@siriuslystarbucks](http://siriuslystarbucks.tumblr.com/)


End file.
